According to the latest in the NHK News, the worker was cleaning out the side drains at the district assembly hall in the morning. (For my report from the press conference yesterday, see my post here.)

I just hate to think how radioactive the sludge was. There is no indication that the government (this project was government-planned and funded and directed) had measured the density of the soil or sludge that it was requesting the workers to remove.

The decontamination technology for that kind of operation in Japan is hand, shovel, trowel, and sandbag.

Beyond criminal, and all the spokesman said in the yesterday’s press conference was “We don’t know the details, but the death is definitely not caused by the radiation, and it has nothing to do with the decontamination work”.

Just to remind you that their definition of a death by the radiation for this government and TEPCO is an acute radiation poisoning which knocks out a person in an instant of the exposure to the radiation source.

Furthermore, when he said the death had nothing to do with the decon work, he had to clarify upon being further questioned by a reporter. All he meant was that the worker didn’t die while he was doing the decon work.

I watched the press conference yesterday.The unease of the government spokesman was exceptional. At times, he simply couldn’t even speak, trying to find appropriate words to say.

A 60-year-old man was found collapsed in a car and confirmed dead. He was doing the decontamination work in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture. The Cabinet Office [which planned the work] says the death “has nothing to do with the decontamination work”.

According to the Cabinet Office and the Police, a 60-year-old man was found collapsed in a car in Shimo-Oguni District of Date City in Fukushima Prefecture at around 1PM on December 12. The man worked for a construction company in Miyagi Prefecture. He was taken to a hospital, but was confirmed dead about an hour later. The man participated in the decontamination work assigned by the national government near the district assembly hall in the morning. He scooped the sludge in the side drains, and then he was eating lunch in the company car, it was reported. The Cabinet Office says “The cause of death has nothing to do with the decontamination work”, without revealing the details.

… these are not “dosimeters” but “glass badges” that passively collect radiation information. It won’t help these children or their parents to avoid high-radiation areas and spots, it won’t tell them how much radiation they will have been exposed unless they are sent in to a company to interpret the data.

Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion. Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger.

Yo: So making comparisons with X-rays and CT scans has no meaning. Because you can breathe in radioactive material.

Hirose: That’s right. When it enters your body, there’s no telling where it will go. The biggest danger is women, especially pregnant women, and little children. Now they’re talking about iodine and cesium, but that’s only part of it, they’re not using the proper detection instruments. What they call monitoring means only measuring the amount of radiation in the air. Their instruments don’t eat. What they measure has no connection with the amount of radioactive material.

Dr. Helen Caldicott (Co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility):

You’ve bought the propaganda from the nuclear industry. They say it’s low-level radiation. That’s absolute rubbish. If you inhale a millionth of a gram of plutonium, the surrounding cells receive a very, very high dose. Most die within that area, because it’s an alpha emitter. The cells on the periphery remain viable. They mutate, and the regulatory genes are damaged. Years later, that person develops cancer. Now, that’s true for radioactive iodine, that goes to the thyroid; cesium-137, that goes to the brain and muscles; strontium-90 goes to bone, causing bone cancer and leukemia. It’s imperative … that you understand internal emitters and radiation, and it’s not low level to the cells that are exposed. Radiobiology is imperative to understand these days.”

You have enough credible information for a few documentaries. When I look at this disaster, I wonder why nobody in a position of authority will touch it, even to report on it. It makes me wonder, what can possibly be behind this? Simple instructions, to remove shoes before entering the house with acid rain I was able to get and share from you, not our leaders or scientists. Keep your skin covered, wear a rainhat, wipe pet’s feet off….were it not for you, such simple info could not be found. Why was that kept from us?
Thanks for all you do.
Sincerely,
Marilyn Gjerdrum